By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Kansas First District Congressman Republican Tracey Mann believes that former President Donald Trump is still the leader of that party even though he's no longer in office.
"Absolutely," Mann said. "I have been a supporter of President Trump. His policies were very good for the country, very good for Kansas. He remains the leader of the party and will be here into the future."
It is a source of frustration for the freshman Congressman to see leadership from the opposing party pushing their agenda in Congress rather than meeting in the middle, but he knows it isn't his chamber where the real fight will be held.
"The big question is what will get through the Senate?" Mann said. "These are razor thin margins. In the House, it's about a five to a seven vote margin between the Republicans and the Democrats. In the Senate, you know, it's 50-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris being the tiebreaker. Things are passing through the House. The real question is what happens in the Senate."
Other than the once a year budget reconciliation, as long as the Senate still allows the filibuster, Republicans will have the ability to slow most measures by not allowing legislation to get the 60 votes needed for cloture. With that said, Mann has been disappointed by the amount of executive action taken by President Biden, so much so that he introduced legislation to limit that power, but it remains to be seen if it has any legs.
"There are six different pieces of legislation, which means they got to different committees," Mann said. "They are sitting in those committees right now. It's yet to be seen. We're pushing for that. Common sense things like that should be bipartisan. We'll see if they move."
The most bipartisan piece of business Mann has seen move this Congress is commemorating FFA week, but as for substantive policy, there hasn't been much of that with support from both sides yet.